I know that I have been most remiss in updating about my travel adventures lately, of which there have been many, so I am going to try to remedy that by beginning the narrative of my spring break adventures. I had the fantastic opportunity to take a once in a lifetime trip through Italy and Croatia with Sarah and Caitlin, two of my housemates from Dickinson, and it was incredible. We hit eight cities in two countries over ten days, so we were just on the move all of the time. We got to see so many amazing things and just had a blast the entire time.
Sarah and Caitlin had been travelling for almost four weeks already, so I was meeting them in Florence on Friday evening, after having a day in Venice. I booked a flight from London bright and early - 6:30 a.m.! My odyssey therefore began very late on Thursday night, when I caught the midnight thirty coach from Norwich to Stansted Airport in London. This was the first time that I had ever done any significant travelling by myself, and I was really nervous about it, actually - it's one thing to go with friends, but when you're flying from one country where you don't really live to another country where you definitely don't live and don't even speak the language, then spending the entire day by yourself in that country before figuring out the train schedule in order to meet your friends in a different city entirely, it's a little bit daunting. And have I mentioned that I'm a terrible flyer? So it was with some anxiety that I got on the coach, which turned out to be the loneliest ride of my life. But I made it to Stansted around 4 a.m., when the airport was just opening, and eventually made it onto my flight. If you've never waited in a queu for Ryanair at 4:00 in the morning, surrounded by grumpy travellers who are complaining about luggage restrictions and the fact that there is only one person checking passports for the massive queu of people trying to catch planes, you should - it builds character. My plan to deprive myself of sleep so that I would be too tired to be anxious on the flight worked - I fell asleep about half way through and woke up just as we were passing over the Italian Alps, which were absolutely beautiful. I think that's when I knew I would be okay: I could do this. After that I started feeling rather pleased with myself.
The feeling continued when we landed and it was sunny and warm, even at 9:30 in the morning. All thoughts of sleep vanished in an instant as excitement overtook anxiety. I struck up an acquaintance on the bus from the airport into Venice, basically because I kept asking the guy sitting next to me all sorts of deep and meaningful questions, such as, "Is this seat taken?" and "This is going to Venice, right?" It didn't take long for me to notice his decided lack of accent, so I asked him where he was from, and the ensuing conversation went something like this:
me: "Where are you from?"
Lorenzo: "California. What about you?" (Strange but true: every American you meet abroad is from either California or Connecticut.)
me: "Connecticut (see?). So are you here on holiday, then?"
L: "Well, I'm meeting my parents here tomorrow to travel with them, but I study abroad in England."
me: "Oh, me too! Where do you study?"
L: It's this kind of random city called Norwich."
me: *stares*
Travel Buddy Lorenzo, as he shall henceforward be known, and I wound up spending most of the day together, as neither of us had a real plan of attack for the day, and it was much nicer than spending the day alone. We decided to just wander the streets in the general direction of the Piazza San Marco and see what we could find. This turned out to be a great plan, because Venice's streets are absolutely impossible to navigate. They are narrow, twisting, and not marked on any maps. Some end abruptly in canals, some narrow down into nothingness, some go in a square, so it's easier to not even try to follow any kind of course. The brilliant thing that Venice has done, however, realizing that this poses something of a problem for tourists and anyone who has not lived in the city for at least five years, is to put up yellow signs every few hundred feet that point you in the direction of the major attractions, such as the Piazza San Marco, Ponte de Rialto, the train station, etc. It's a great system - as long as you generally follow these signs, you'll get where you want to go, but you'll get to explore the maze of Venetian side streets as you go. And Venice's streets are worth exploring. Everywhere you turn looks like a postcard, and there are gorgeous buildings just hidden away.
This was our first proper view of Venice as we crossed the Ponte Scalzi from the train station, which is in the westernmost bit of the city. The views kept getting better, believe it or not. Everything that I remembered about how beautiful Venice is from four years ago has definitely held true.
Obligatory tourist photo, courtesy of Travel Buddy Lorenzo.
Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista, one of the gorgeous buildings that we literally stumbled upon after wandering in circles for about ten minutes trying to figure out how to keep walking without having to go for a swim in one of the canals.
The beautiful Ponte de Rialto over the Grand Canal.
The beautiful view down the Grand Canal from the beautiful Ponte de Rialto - so much beautiful.
Piazza San Marco - you can see the Basilica di San Marco in the centre of the shot, and then the campanille (bell tower) on the right.
Some of the amazing ceiling mosaics in the Basilica - the entire building looked like this, but no photographs were allowed inside.
The courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale, or the Doge's Palace, home to the Doge and all of the governing bodies of Venice during the Venetian Empire. Incidentally, it is also home to the largest oil painting in the world, and to the famous Bridge of Sighs, which was unfortunately being renovated while I was there, so it was surrounded by bright blue tarp.
Gondola ride, anyone?
Travel Buddy Lorenzo and I hung around the Piazza San Marco for a while - we got gelato for lunch and sat in the sun, talking, watching the other tourists, and generally just enjoying the fact that we were in Venice. He went on to continue exploring after lunch while I stayed in the Piazza to knock off some touristy things before I had to leave. A friend had recommended the Doge's Palace, so I wandered through all of the various chambers of the complicated Venetian government. It was absolutely beautiful, and by the time that I was finished there it was high time to meander my way back to the train station. So, following the amazingly helpful yellow signs (you know, England, you should really take note here, given your own issues with clear signage), I trotted my way back across the city, enjoying the gorgeous views all the way. I've only explored Venice on the very surface - my total time there over two visits probably amounts to about twelve hours - but as far as first impressions go, it is one of my favourite cities. It's just so beautiful and has so much character. So, so worth a visit, and a return visit. I'm really glad that I didn't cut that part of my trip out in order to meet Sarah and Caitlin earlier, because it was the perfect start to my trip. And I proved to myself that I can travel on my own - I can get myself from A to B without any major catastrophes, I can make friends with fellow travellers, and I can have one of the best days in my recent memory.
I made it to the station in plenty of time to catch my train to Firenze (Florence - I was confused, too). I wish that I could tell you about the beautiful Italian countryside that we passed through, but I fell asleep as soon as the train started moving, and woke up just as we were coming into Florence. Sarah and Caitlin met me at the train station, and we spent the rest of the evening catching up on life and on sleep, which was much needed as we were going to explore Florence the next day!
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